Accountability

December 19, 2013

We hear Costa Rica is a lovely place to vacation, a lush tropical vacation that would seem even lovlier in the throes of a Minnesota winter.

We hope April Todd-Malmlov enjoyed her recent two-week sojourn there. It will have to have been a magnificent vacation to sustain her through the storm she has endured since she returned.

Todd-Malmlov until Tuesday was the head of the state's health insurance exchange board, or MNsure. She took a poorly timed vacation to Costa Rica while the system she was supposed to be overseeing was plagued by technical glitches, long waits for assistance, and erroneous information being sent out to insurance companies.

We doubt that Todd-Malmlov would have been able to single-handedly right all the wrongs with the system, but when you are in charge of a project that carries such high emotional and political voltage, you don't take off in the middle of the most crucial part of the system's rollout.

Todd-Malmlov abruptly resigned on Tuesday, leaving her high-paying job without a severance package. It was the right thing for her to do.

But she should not be alone. Minnesota's health care signup has been relatively trouble free, compared to the federal government's web site system. If it was right for Todd-Malmlov to resign, whoever was in charge of the federal fiasco should quit in disgrace.